A grassroots movement is growing to revitalize downtown Niagara Falls. Watch as artists in Niagara Falls meet to discuss the future of the city’s downtown core. Melanie Mullen serves as meeting facilitator. February 4th, 2008. See the video here.

Mullen wins Sierra Club achievement award

Environmentalist Melanie Mullen earned the recognition of the Sierra Club’s Niagara chapter this week. The organization named 24-year-old Mullen the winner of its environmental youth achievement award, a new award to focus attention on education.

“We feel as an organization that it is very important to the region to support the hard work of our new leaders” said Larry-Alan Caldwell, chairman of the Niagara region Sierra Club Conservation Team. Caldwell credited Mullen’s efforts with building a better quality of life, awareness of environmental issues, and protecting resources in Niagara.

Mullen graduated from the University of Guelph’s environmental engineering program last year. Then she ran as the Green party’s candidate in the 2007 provincial election. She finished third, ahead of the NDP, taking about 11.4 per cent of the votes in that election. The Green party of Ontario named her the party’s female deputy co-leader late last year.She was also part of a campaign to convince the provincial government to preserve Fort Erie’s Marcy’s Woods.

Mullen has been involved in environmental issues for years in Niagara Falls. She won the city’s environmental award when she was a student at Saint Paul high school for promoting recycling and other issues at school.Mullen said she respects the Sierra Club’s work, adding “there is so much we can all accomplish when we work together.”

Afterwards, the local progressive press wrote this about Mullen’s comments: “A representative from the Canadian Greens spoke to the fact that Greens around the world are watching our progress and support us 100%. It was good to hear, to get a sense of how this party spans our world and how important that may be in the coming days. “

Melanie with legendary U.S. consumer advocate and 1996/2000 U.S. Green Presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

“There is always more to learn and different angles to learn from. I would if I could spent 27 hours a day listening to all walks of life; to the homeless or to political figures – I will always want to learn more- and use my learning to propel both the Party and society based on the growing green consciousness ” Melanie Mullen

Earlier this year Mullen represented the Green Party of Canada at the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas Conference; where North and South America as well as Mexico had their annual conference as one of the four federations that make up the Global Greens. In the last week, Mullen has additionally taken on the role as an adviser for the Global Greens, specifically their upcoming Global Greens Congress 2008 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The last Global Greens Conference was in Australia in 2001 where all the Green Parties from around the world met to discuss the current state of our global politics. Global Greens 2008 will be a focus on the role of politics in Climate Change and how Green Parties can globally secure a comfortable future for the planet.

HOT : Homegrown environmentalist Melanie Mullen moved onto the provincial stage and even the world stage. At 24, she graduated University this year and ran for public office as the Green Party’s candidate in October’s provincial election.

She was the first local Green candidate to run like she expected to win. In December, she attended the United Nations conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia as the Green Party Representative. Then she was named the Green Party of Ontario’s interim female deputy leader. No doubt she’s just at the start of a promising career in environmental advocacy.

-Corey Laroque, The Niagara Falls Review Dec 29th 2007

These are the quotes I gave them… but they didn’t use:

“I am overjoyed to work with Frank, I respect him on many levels, that of leadership, intellect, friendship and insight.”

“Ontario needs people in the government that are more than just seasoned politicians; they need people who understand the issues on a level of application.”

“For a political party to have a family Doctor and a female engineer as Deputy Leaders is highly reflective of the true purpose of the Green Party: we are not a traditional political party, we are a bold group of knowledgeable leaders ready to protect our health, families and well being.”

“I would like to thank outgoing Deputy Leader Victoria Serda for her dedication and commitment to the Party.”